20. My Neighbor William

In January 2026 I moved into a thin-walled second-floor Taipei apartment and found myself talking to an older gentleman outside watering the plants. His name was William and he was my upstairs neighbor. William had that kind of magnetic friendliness, a warm smile and a soothing voice, that made me …

19. Tianmu on a Plate: Eddy's Cantina

Tianmu is a neighborhood in northern Taipei that has never quite felt like the rest of the city. Shaped by American military housing in the 1950s and decades of expat culture, it became the place where foreign food, foreign faces, and foreign ideas landed in Taiwan. Today, some of that energy has f…

18. Eliminating Period Poverty: How Love Binti is Empowering Girls

In this episode, Sophie Yang explores the issue of period poverty through a conversation with Elle Yang, founder of Love Binti (愛女孩國際關懷協會), a Taiwanese nonprofit organization working with communities across Africa. Through reusable cloth menstrual pads, health education, water projects, and women's…

17. Behind closed doors

Trigger warning: We talk about domestic violence, emotional manipulation, and sexual assault in this episode. Please take care of yourself while listening. It is completely okay to pause or stop the audio if you need a break. Abuse is a heavy word. Usually, people hide it and treat it like a dark …

16. Beyond Physical Violence

What happens when a simple side job to earn extra pocket money turns into a psychological prison? In this episode, we explore how predatory mentorships networks weaponise the intense financial pressures of young adulthood into invisible traps of coercive control. This investigation is grounded in t…

15. One Whale Placenta, Two Ways of Knowing

A whale placenta floating off the coast of Maui, Hawaii, might sound like the beginning of a strange story, but for Pacific Whale Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to ocean conservation, it became an opportunity to rethink how science and Indigenous knowledge can work together. In this episode, Ka…

14. Mental Support in Competitive Apex Legends

Competitive gaming (esports) often celebrates focus, discipline, and resilience. But behind every match, there is also pressure — pressure to perform, to stay composed, and to keep going even when things fall apart. I’m EChen, a former semi-pro In-Game Leader.  In this episode, we explore the emot…

13. Rethinking Macau’s Economy

Macau’s casinos and tourism are booming again, but local businesses are hurting as residents spend their money across the border in Mainland China. Is Macau’s recovery real, or just an illusion? In this episode, special guests Bella (Lo Hiu Ching) and Kou Tak Kei talk about the real economic situat…

12. Seeking Publishing, Seeking Home

Charis Hayward is trying to get published, but she has found it to be an extremely difficult journey. She shares the upward battle she's chasing before delving into a conversation with Karissa Chen, author of the critically acclaimed historical romance Homeseeking (2025) about the experience of wri…

11. What it is like to be in and out of the compatriot bubble

When you move to a new country, sticking close to people from your home culture is a natural instinct. But is it a vital safety net or a barrier to your growth? In this episode, Michael Doan sits down with Kim (Trinh Kim Nguyen) and Mia (Nguyen Tran Mai Anh) - both are Vietnamese students pursuing …